Related papers: The Cosmology - Particle Physics Connection
Understanding the behavior of the universe at large depends critically on insights about the smallest units of matter and their fundamental interactions. Inflationary cosmology is a highly successful framework for exploring these…
Observations of the cosmic microwave background represent a remarkable source of information for modern cosmology. Besides providing impressive support for the Big Bang model itself, they quantify the overall framework, or background, for…
In these lectures I focus on early universe models which can explain the currently observed structure on large scales. I begin with a survey of inflationary cosmology, the current paradigm for understanding the origin of the universe as we…
We aim to bring a new perspective about some aspects of the current research in Cosmology. We start with a brief introduction about the main developments of the field in the last century; then we introduce an analogy that shall elucidate…
Perhaps more than any other of the physical sciences, cosmology exemplifies the inevitable contact between science and philosophy, including the problem of the demarcation criteria that distinguish science from non-science. Although modern…
This paper will consist of a selected, personal view of some of the issues associated with the intersections of nuclear and particle physics. As well as touching on the recent developments we will attempt to look at how those aspects of the…
The time variation of fundamental mass scales can have profound cosmological implications. We investigate a particular model of crossover quintessence which is compatible with all present cosmological observations. This model can also…
I present a concise review of where we stand in particle physics today. First, I will discuss QCD, then the electroweak sector and finally the motivations and the avenues for new physics beyond the Standard Model.
Wonderful opportunities await particle physics over the next decade, with the coming of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to explore the 1-TeV scale (extending efforts at LEP and the Tevatron to unravel the nature of electroweak symmetry…
A National Research Council study on connecting quarks with the cosmos has recently posed a number of the more important open questions at the interface between particle physics and cosmology. These questions include the nature of dark…
This paper provides a prospectus for a new way of thinking about the wavefunction of the universe: a $\Psi$-epistemic quantum cosmology. We present a proposal that, if successfully implemented, would resolve the cosmological measurement…
I discuss recent advances being made in the physics and astrophysics of cosmic rays and cosmic gamma-rays at the highest observed energies as well as the related physics and astrophysics of very high energy cosmic neutrinos. I also discuss…
The good agreement between large-scale observations and the predictions of the now-standard $\Lambda$CDM theory gives us hope that this will become a lasting foundation for cosmology. After briefly reviewing the current status of the key…
A very short, non-technical review of the main problems which are presently open in the context of the gravitational theory and of its cosmological applications, and which are currently under investigation and deep discussion. We will talk…
If the effective cosmological constant $\Lambda$ of the present universe is due to physical processes in the early universe operating at temperatures just above the electroweak energy scale, it is possible that new particles with…
The widely accepted description of the present cosmic acceleration and the neutrino oscillations in terms of a cosmological constant and neutrino masses, respectively, seems conceptually not very satisfactory. From a phenomenological…
Several problems in cosmology and astrophysics are described in which critical phenomena of various types may play a role. These include the organization of the disks of spiral galaxies, various aspects of the problem of structure formation…
The expansion of our universe, when followed backward in time, implies that it emerged from a phase of huge density, the big bang. These stages are so extreme that classical general relativity combined with matter theories is not able to…
The scientific status of physical cosmology has been the subject of philosophical debate ever since detailed mathematical models of the Universe emerged from Einstein's general theory of relativity. Such debates have revolved around whether…
This talk introduces the contributions of the lecturers to the international summer school ``Historical Development of Modern Cosmology'' held at the Universidad Internacional Men\'endez Pelayo, Valencia, Spain, during September 18-22 2000.